MCCA Is Said To Be Probing CIMB After Debit Card Holders Report Unauthorised Transfers

The Malaysia Cyber Consumer Association (MCCA) is reportedly probing CIMB after social media was abuzz with reports of unauthorised fund transfers from the bank's debit card holders

MCCA Cyber ​​Security Head Mohamad Zulfahmy Roslan was quoted saying by New Straits Times that he received reports on the incidents involving one of the largest financial institutions in the country.

"We want to stress that the bank should be more transparent in issuing financial statement information so that it won't raise any doubts among consumers. The use of TAC should be enhanced to avoid any leakage of money," he said in a statement issued on Saturday, 4 April.

According to Mohamad Zulfahmy's statement, this is not the first time that CIMB has done this.

While Mohamad Zulfahmy said that they will be seeking a clarification from CIMB on the issue, he also advised the public to be more careful

"The public is also advised to maximise the use of prepaid cards to avoid having their personal information leaked," he said, adding that they can file complaints to the MCCA at its website.

This comes after CIMB customers voiced concerns online about missing money in their accounts under 'direct debit' transactions

@CIMB_Assists@CIMBMalaysia Guys this happened today. Checked my bank balance and found out that there were a few suspicious transactions happened over the past three consecutive days and found out it came from this “direct debit” description.CIMB kindly respond ASAP. TQ. pic.twitter.com/fTgPfy9A4D

Following which, CIMB issued a statement saying that these 'direct debit' transactions are legitimate transactions done by customers

According to the CIMB's statement, these transactions were "isolated incidents relating to incomplete transactions performed by customers with overseas merchants" such as Netflix, etc.

"However, the transaction description was re-termed as 'direct debits', causing confusion for our customers," it said in the statement issued yesterday through its official social media pages.

The clarification, however, did not sit well with everyone

No, I refuse to accept this excuse. Most of my online subscriptions are not paid via CIMB. I live abroad and I do not use CIMB for any other transactions when I’m not in Msia. Yet an unknown ‘direct debit’ charge appeared in my acc.How do you explain that @CIMB_Assists? https://t.co/tK5VfHV7T4

CIMB has since then said that they will send an SMS notification to customers who were impacted by these 'direct debit' transactions

"Customers who were impacted by these 'direct debit' transactions, will be receiving an SMS notification today with the details of their transactions such as date, amount and the merchant description," it said.

"We will reverse the 1% administration fee charged by MasterCard, which was factored into these transactions. We regret the inconvenience caused by this."